Ukraine arrests former interior minister

Ukrainian authorities yesterday arrested the country’s former interior minister amid an ongoing probe into the pro-Western Cabinet of ex-premier turned opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.

Yury Lutsenko was detained by at least 10 Alpha special security officers while taking his dog out for a walk in the capital Kiev, his spokesman Inna Kysil said.

The former Orange Revolution leader was bundled into a car and taken to a jail operated by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), an offshoot of the Soviet-era KGB, the spokesman added.

“He had already been ordered not to leave the city, so I think that this arrest came as a complete surprise to him,” said Ms Kysil.

The prosecutor general’s office confirmed Mr Lutsenko’s detention but said that a formal statement would only be issued today.

Last month, officials charged Mr Lutsenko, 46, with abuse of power and taking personal possession of state property.

Ukrainian media reports said the charges are linked to an allegedly improper 40,000-hryvnia (€3,840) payment the former minister made to his driver.

Mr Lutsenko, who along with Ms Tymoshenko was one of the leaders of the 2004 protest movement that followed elections allegedly rigged in favour of then-prime minister Viktor Yanukovych, has called the charges against him politically motivated.

A veteran politician who supports his country’s integration into Europe, Mr Lutsenko has held various positions in the former Soviet republic, serving as interior minister in Ms Tymoshenko’s government for three years. He was initially appointed as the country’s first civilian interior minister by former president Viktor Yushchenko in February 2005.

Ms Tymoshenko has herself been charged with embezzling 960,000 hryvnias as well as abuse of power and ordered not to leave Kiev.

The charges could put the charismatic Orange Revolution leader in prison for up to a decade and keep her out of politics for three years upon her release.

In February, Ms Tymoshenko lost a hard-fought presidential election battle to Mr Yanukovych, leading her to step down as prime minister in early March and go into opposition. She has since accused Mr Yanu-kovych of repeated attempts to silence her and sharply criticised his policies, particularly his efforts to build closer ties with Moscow.